Gun Broker starting bid

[bassnbuck]

I've been watching gun broker for a third series colt woodsman sport in good condition. Could someone explain to me why a seller would have a starting bid lower than their reserve price? I see this done often and don't get it. Seems like a waste of time. Use small words I must be slow.

[Rcmaveric]

Just how it is to start the bidding war. Think of it as click bait. Allows the seller to refuse to sell with out hitting their minimum set amount. I think the reserve gets abused though sometimes.

[Mr_Sheesh]

On Evilbay the fellow sellers I know have all concluded that a low starting bid *usually* will get more interest from buyers and usually result in a higher sale price; So low starting prices are a good idea (Unless you have something so obscure that only 1 or 2 people would even buy it!) Reserves are about fear of mot selling your item at a high enough price I'd think - Fear isn't the best idea...

[bassnbuck]

I understand reserves, I just think reserve and starting price should be set the same so a buyer knows if he is interested or not. Thanks for the replies.

[Greg S]

I bid on the all the time. I plug in what I think it's worth if I'm interested and move on. Most of the reserves are stupid high so it lets folks know when they see the bid they know it is over priced. If I'm really interested I might gamble and see how stuoid high it is push it alittle and walk away. Haven't won anything either playing the game... yet.

[bassnbuck]

A few years back I played the game on a combat commander. I bowed out at $1200. another guy ran it up to over $1400. We never found out what his reserve price was. The whole time I was bidding I kept thinking this is nuts, I can't hold the gun or inspect it. Some people think their stuff is made out of gold.

[Iron Whittler]

The bottom line is " nothing is worth more than someone is willing and able to pay for it." In any money transaction, you say what you are willing and able to pay, any more it is a no sale. It ain't nothing personal, it is just plain business. I have passed on many deals because I thought the price was more than I was willing to pay. Just my 2 cents worth. [smilie=1:

[Drm50]

I use to go to a big gun auction every month, for years. When they went on line and started the
Reserve / Minimum bid game I quit.

[WebMonkey]

I understand reserves, I just think reserve and starting price should be set the same so a buyer knows if he is interested or not. Thanks for the replies.

you are 100% correct.

the seller is trying to get action without running potential buyers off.
(buyers that already know what they want to spend and will 'pass' on an item beyond their interest)

i agree with you
;)

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've participated in many auctions, both as a buyer and a seller. A reserve is supposed to be the minimum that a seller will accept for the piece, and it is pre-established with the website and can't be changed. In other words, the website knows what it is and the seller knows what it is, but the potential buyer doesn't know. Once it is reached the piece is sold one way or another, either at that price or at a higher bid. But, the buyer never knows exactly what the reserve is/was unless the figure is disclosed by the seller. You will sometimes see the reserve figure stated by the seller, which kind of makes the entire thing silly, because the original "basic" type of auction starts at a minimum figure set by the seller. So the seller can go with a basic auction and start the piece at (example) $500, or have a reserve of $500. Some sellers will then arrange for an opening bid to be made not too far below the reserve with the hope that someone will bid much more than the reserve, let's say $600, because they don't know what the reserve is and don't want to lose the piece. The fellow that bids $600 will never know that he could have had the piece for $500. So what it is, is a tactic to get a higher price. I've personally rarely used a reserve, and just start my auctions off at the minimum I want to receive for the piece. If the piece is in nice condition and the starting price is reasonable I'll usually get a higher price anyway, with bidders bidding on the condition. Reserves guarantee the seller that he won't lose the piece for less than he thinks it's worth, but you'll see many pieces with a reserve go unsold.

[str8wal]

When I do a search for a gun I click on the "No Reserve" option because I don't like to waste my time.

[Kestrel4k]

The big benefit is that the seller can have his shill bidders bid up the item to just below the reserve price with no risk of sale & subsequent cancellation etc.

That way, it makes the potential real bidders think the item is actually worth the current price, and have a higher likelihood of submitting valid bids of their own - subsequently 'making' the reserve price and getting more money for the seller.

[merlin101]

Low starting bid works, I sold a house valued at $110,000. it was an absoult auction and had a starting bid of $1.00. Some people thought I was nuts but day of sale had a crowd of 50-60 people and the bids shot from $1 to 80k in seconds and the slowed and final price was just under the 110.000 and that was during the housing crisis and had a non refundable 10% deposite and 30 day closing.
If I had've started the bid at say $80,000 it may or may not have sold for more but there would've been a much smaller pool of bidders.

[aws1963]

The big benefit is that the seller can have his shill bidders bid up the item to just below the reserve price with no risk of sale & subsequent cancellation etc.....

This ^^^ 100%. I'll put in my "best price" and walk away. Hard sometimes with that item I really want or need. Get's easier to do over time.

[Ziptar]

I filter out reserve auctions when searching on GB so I don't waste my time. I view a reserve as not really an auction but someone that wants to sell at a fixed price and hopes maybe they can get more.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[justashooter]

When I do a search for a gun I click on the "No Reserve" option because I don't like to waste my time.

amen. i have bought in hundreds of auctions, and sold in hundreds, always looking at no reserve items and selling with penny start no reserve.

a "seller" using a reserve is generally not going to sell anything.

[Mr_Sheesh]

It'd be handy for the times where SWMBO orders you to sell off a prized gun I guess... Unless she looks at the auction entry.

[white eagle]

sell a 500 dollar gun with a reserve of what ever you consider the lowest you will take
but sell it with no reserve and a low .01c starting bid you take the chance of selling it for .02c
setting your bottom dollar price as the starting bid is the same as a reserve

[Plate plinker]

The big benefit is that the seller can have his shill bidders bid up the item to just below the reserve price with no risk of sale & subsequent cancellation etc.

That way, it makes the potential real bidders think the item is actually worth the current price, and have a higher likelihood of submitting valid bids of their own - subsequently 'making' the reserve price and getting more money for the seller.


THIS!!!^^^^^^

I once won a evil bay auction when the shill backed out, they tried to hang a higher price on me than I would have ever had to bid if that shill was not there.

[smokeywolf]

Psychology. Similar to the crooks who treat a business license as though it's just a license to steal and price something at $1,999.99. WOW, it's less than two thousand dollars. I rate business people like that about as ethical as a California democrat.

[dbarry1]

I understand reserves, I just think reserve and starting price should be set the same so a buyer knows if he is interested or not. Thanks for the replies.

Completely agree. Reserve auctions = waste of time. I always click "no reserve" on my searches. I wish GB would allow that as default.

[Mr_Sheesh]

On White Eagle's point - I can understand the fear of that, but if the auction is long enough and posted in the right category, almost always a bunch of people glom onto the auction & bid on it, it's human psychology... We humans are weird :p

[rockrat]

Just like "Plate Plinker", I have bid on items and finally let the other person have it, only to have the seller contact me telling me the other guy backed out and did I want it for my high bid. I get suspicious and usually tell them I will take it for the price I could have had it for had the other person not bid.
Never hear from them again. Figure just someone just running up the bid, either at the behest of the owner, or just someone trying to make someone else pay more money, as a joke.

[justashooter]

but sell it with no reserve and a low .01c starting bid you take the chance of selling it for .02c


if you are selling a single item, you are at risk. if you are selling 20-30 items in the same week, with sale closings at about the same time, you get lots of competition in your penny sales from buyers who found you items by looking at your "other auctions" when finding a penny start in their keyword search for something else that you had listed.

when a seller has penny starts everybody looks to see what else is on the block with. for this reason, lots of sellers that are serious about moving the stuff quickly put "penny start" in the auction title so that it comes up in searches using that term. try using "penny start" in a gunbroker search and you will see what I mean. this has worked very well for me wiht run of the mill guns.

I did have an extroardinarily rare and fine condition low production 7X57 Commission Model'88 Carbine that was produced by L&L in 1907, and prolly the nicest remaining of the 400 or so that Bannermans imported in 1914. Obviously, I put a $1400 opener on that gun, adn gave it away at that price, to someone who was thrilled to get it. I posted photos of it on Gunboards a year or so ago for the record, as it was a rarely seen variant made for speculation in Arab States sales, that never delivered in quantity and was pulled out of the warehouse and surped as-new to raise cash in 1914 when the world went to hell.

[bkbville]

GB recently started charging a premium for reserve auctions because they are so unpopular.

What I've never been able to do is bring myself to go with a $1 or .01 starting price - yet those seem to move up pretty quickly in price, I'm always afraid I'd end up selling something way below value.

[Soundguy]

i have also seen where a difference in reserve and starting price can be used as a 2nd chance offer.

i have been in a few auctions where 2 things have happened.

1, the high bidder failed to complete the transaction, and the seller went to other bidders to see if they wanted it.

or

2, and this one is what I think applies here, the seller set a starting bid price of say.. 100$ on a turk mauser, but had his reserve set at 180$ I found out. I bid it up to 150$ and bowed out, knowing I was under the reserve. It was a typical piece maybee better bore than many.. but still a turk and I didn't really need it.. so felt fine staying at 150. auction ended. The same gun had been up before, and I bid the same amount each time. seller contacted me and asked about a 2nd chance offer ( done thru gunbroker ), and we settled on a mid way of 165$ and both were happy.

[justashooter]

GB recently started charging a premium for reserve auctions because they are so unpopular.



great news. gunbroker has to host all of the auction listings, including photos (lots of drive space), annd is not selling the vast majority of reserves, so getting no cut. in addition. lots of people just don't bother to wade through all of the retail and higher than retail price bullcrap auto-relisting junk auctions that aren't really auctions, just advertisements at unreasonable prices. i suggested to them years ago that overall sales volume will go up if they don;t let people list a bunch of **** at unreasonable reserves and people know that their time is not wasted hunting through listings for something that they can get a decent deal on.

[oscarflytyer]

agree. ticks me. gotten so I flat out won't even look at reserve auctions, espec if they start out at a penny

[kmw1954]

I have purchased 5 pistols on Gun Broker in the past 2 yrs. and not one was a reserve auction. I look at them as opening bid is the reserve price and if there is a BIN offer that I feel is reasonable and in my price range I will use it. I do not waste my time on reserve auctions as those same items can be found in non-reserve auctions that are usually ending within the same time frame.

Last auction won for me was just this week, a S&W Shield 380 EZ. Auction closed at the sweet price of just $290.00 +$25.00 shipping. I was very happy, can't say whether the seller was or not.

[AkMtnRunner]

I'm okay with it, as I see these auction sites as not 'just' an auction site. I see it as an intelligent seller tactic to build interest yet still have protection from being locked into selling for a lower amount than I would sell for.

On the other hand, there will always be sellers looking for emotional suckers, thus the absurdly high reserve prices. These sellers don't really want to sell but are just bored and want to feel powerful by taking advantage of someone.